5.3 Overwriting Previously Cloned Data
5.0 Cloning Campaign Data 5.3 Overwriting Previously Cloned Data

Overwrite previously cloned data? only matters when you clone the same section from the same campaign more than once. The first time you clone anything, it makes no difference.

Chronica remembers which records in your campaign arrived by cloning, and which original record each one came from. That memory is what the checkbox acts on.

CheckboxWhat happens on a second clone
Unticked (the default)Only records that have never been cloned before are added. Anything already cloned is left as it is, including any changes you made to it.
TickedNew records are added, and records you cloned before are updated to match the source campaign again.

Two sections do not follow the table. Currencies are matched by name rather than by clone history — see 5.1. Campaign Shops re-copy every picture on every clone, ticked or not, so cloning shops repeatedly uses more of your file storage each time.

Overwrite replaces your edits to cloned records. If you cloned an NPC and then rewrote its description in your own campaign, cloning again with Overwrite ticked puts the source campaign's description back. If you have made changes you want to keep, leave the box unticked.
Overwrite rebuilds an NPC's or entity's ability list. The list is cleared and filled in again from the source campaign, so any ability you attached to that NPC yourself is removed. Its stats are not affected this way — those are only added to, never cleared.
What Overwrite never does
  • It does not delete records. Something removed from the source campaign since your last clone is not removed from yours.
  • Apart from currencies, it does not touch records you created by hand. Only records that arrived by cloning are eligible.
  • It does not act on records cloned from a different campaign. Each cloned record remembers the specific record it came from.
When to use it

Ticking the box is the right choice when the source campaign is a template you maintain, you have changed something in that template, and you want your other campaigns brought back in line with it. It is also how you fill in stats and abilities that were missing because you cloned in the wrong order — see 5.2.

Leave it unticked when you are treating the clone as a starting point and have since made the copy your own.